ACTION ATTITUDES of TRANSFORMATION: Submission

Welcome back Viphilus*

In last post I said that the S-words were action-attitudes that reside within us (emotions vs. mind vs. spirit):

SURRENDER – this takes place at the emotional level
SUBMISSION – this takes place at the mental level
SELF-DENIAL – this takes place at the spiritual level
            1) SUFFER – this occurs at the shallow spiritual level
            2) SACRIFICE – this occurs at the deep spiritual level (religion might be involved)

I mentioned that for transformation to be possible, surrendering is essential … it just isn’t sufficient; it also requires submission. Let’s get into this emotionally-charged word today. The word, “submission,” has taken a bad rap and is often seen with a negative connotation where one person is sub-servient to another. Of course, this is one possible use of the word, but the single point that I want to make is this: when submission is voluntary it unlocks a powerful potential of achievement within us: a potential that begins with a decision.  

“Submission” can also be used interchangeably, in this context, with “commitment.” My Canadian culture would favour this word over “submission,” but here’s the problem … the word “commitment” is so used … so overused … perhaps even so abused … that it’s lost its power to clarify. On the other hand, the word “submission” still gets our attention because it puts a road-bump in front of us because of that negative connotation … but with some care, it can better aid us in realizing what’s going on.

Where surrendering means to cease resisting, submitting means to actually turn control over to another … or to a thing.  A thing?  YES … a thing like “process.” When I was coming out of my breakdown more than a dozen years ago I realized that I needed to make huge changes in my life so that I could sustainably rebuild myself and move forward. The breakdown provided the breakthrough in that it got me to stop fighting all the things I had been fighting … mostly myself. But it wasn’t until I made a conscious decision to submit to some new processes that rebuilding actually started to happen. Putting it another way; surrendering shows you what you have stopped being against, whereas, submitting shows you what you have started being for. You can’t just stop resisting … you have to actually submit to something and make up your mind that you are going to DO something.

In numerous earlier posts I have spoken about “intentionality.” This invented-word has come into self-help literature along with the whole cadre of writings on leadership and management. Here is my own definition: Intentionality is the discipline of the mind to live an ordered life directed by purpose rather than a chaotic life directed by waywardness. Why bring up this word? Because, the action-attitude of submission is one of the quickest ways to develop discipline and skill, when it is pursued with great intention. Intentionality is the discipline of submitting yourself to accomplishing something and then committing the necessary resources to getting it done. Military types are arguably the finest examples of disciplined / skilled individuals … and the reason is clear; they have trained themselves to quickly surrender and submit to a mission. We are all impressed by stories of special-forces agents who are able to accomplish almost any mission, but we seldom think about why they are able. It’s because they have learned to not just take orders, but when they are given a mission, they instantly ingest and metabolize that mission as if it were their own. They don’t resist it … they embrace it. And they aren’t simply following a commander’s orders … the moment they have been given the mission they make it their own. Why? Because they know that it’s the only way that they can have the sustainable power to accomplish the mission. They set aside the extrinsic motivation of a commander and instead, look to the intrinsic motivation of accomplishing the mission because “failure is not an option.”  THE MAGIC HAPPENS WHEN THE CHOOSING OF THE MISSION IS INTERNAL. This is submission.

Oh, and there’s a hidden bonus in this: a high degree of satisfaction, bordering on (dare I say it?) happiness, awaits the one who chooses to do this … with everything. Submission is a way of life. It’s an incredibly gratifying way of life.

Submission is a great tool for effectiveness, as evidenced by the following summary from the American Society of Training and Development. Submitting (committing) to your intentions can help you turn those resolutions, ideas, and goals into real success. The following list shows the likelihood of a person achieving a task under varying conditions:  

Condition/Situation:                                            Likelihood of Actually DOING It!

You HEAR a great idea                                                      10%

You CONSCIOUSLY DECIDE to adopt the idea                25%

You decide WHEN you will do it                                          40%

You PLAN HOW you will do it                                             50%

You COMMIT to someone else to do it                               65%

You make a REPORTING date with them                          95%

Karl Marx once made the famous quote, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” I could write a book’s worth of comments if I wanted to fully unpack the genius in this statement … but I’ll limit myself to one sentence:

The difference between having soul-sucking intentions and spirit-satisfying intentions is this: submission.

Let’s look at the 3 examples from last week as we now add submission to the mix:

1.     You’ve been given good advice on what to do to lose weight and your mentor has given you an eating plan for the next two weeks. Submission is to simply obey that plan … no questions asked for the two weeks. You are still in control but YOU have made the decision to submit to the eating plan because it gits with your broader life mission of losing weight.

2.     You sit down with your boss and tell her that you’ve had a talk with yourself and you realize that the changes are going ahead, with or without you, and you would really prefer it would be with you. You offer yourself as an advocate … not just for the change but also to help the boss bring others along who have also been resistant as well.

3. You’ve coached the kids for a couple of weeks when it suddenly dawns on you that THEY deserve better than a coach with a work-to-rule attitude so you make a commitment to yourself, and to them, to give them your best and help them succeed. In essence, you have submitted yourself to the judges sentence so that you “do the time” rather than letting “the time do you.”

One last point to make … from # 3 above. The moment that we submit ourselves and decide to be a proponent rather than an opponent … whether it’s towards ourselves or others … the time we spend shifts from “time spent” to “character developed.” That’s just the way it works … and everything inside of us gets better.

Next week we’ll delve into the spiritual realm (not religious – don’t worry) to see what happens when we drive the mental aspect of submission deep within us to the point where we may experience “healthy suffering.”

I hope to see you back next Monday.

Blessings Viphilus,

Your friend, Omega Man

OCA Training

* Viphilus means, "lover of life"